Robbo Got Robbed

My neighbour, Robbo, recently had the back of his ute broken into. This is a major downer for him, because he uses it for work, and it was full of all the tools of his trade (he’s an electrician). I stress the word was – the thief totally cleaned him out. Luckily for him, he had insurance on it all via his employer. What he didn’t have was a decent locking system on his ute canopy, as he admitted to me over the fence this evening.

I was surprised to hear that, given how fired up he was about getting the best service body in Melbourne a few months ago. After a lengthy period of shopping around, he finally settled on a storage solution and wouldn’t shut up about it. He’s always been one for showing off his tool collection, too. Maybe someone on our block had finally had enough and decided to take the service body off his hands.

Well, if that’s what happened, it hasn’t worked, because now Robbo’s got a whole lot more to go on about. Now we’ll be hearing about not only the gear that got stolen, but also the specialised tool box central locking system that he’s planning to have installed. He told me about it at great length just now. I’ll admit that it’s a cool thing and something he should definitely invest in. I just wish he’d get on with it rather than gasbagging about it every time we cross paths.

I do get why people get so into their trucks, especially when they’re as decked out with custom features as Robbo’s is. I’m totally enamoured of the fact that there’s a place for everything, whether it’s a specialised drawer, a hanging rack or a box that sits under the vehicle body. Still, he could quietly bask in his ute-pride without smothering the whole neighbourhood with it.